Trustees Charged in Canadian Pension Plan
Investigation

June 30, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The Financial
Services Commission of Ontario said it has filed 15 charges
against trustees of the Canadian Commercial Workers Industry
Pension Plan for alleged breaches of the Pension Benefits Act
relating to questionable investments made over a two-year
period.

The Toronto Star reports the commission accused eight
current and two former trustees of “failing to exercise the
care, diligence and skill in the administration and
investment of the pension fund … that a person of
ordinary prudence would exercise in dealing with the
property of another person.”

After its investigation last year, the commission
issued an 82-page report accusing the plan of investing
$280 million in improper investments, some tied to
business and property ventures of a convicted former
priest (See
Pension Plan Accused of Questionable
Investments
). The commission’s charges include a charge that
trustees violated pension law by investing more than 10%
of the plan’s assets with one or two associated persons
or affiliated companies when it provided sizable funds to
the former priest’s firms, according to the Star.

Officials of the plan deny any wrongdoing. The news
report said that, under the Pension Benefits Act,
trustees can face a maximum fine of $100,000 on
conviction of each charge. The Act has no provision for
removal of the trustees.